


On Living Arrangements During Unplanned Sabbatical

by Turbulent_Muse



Series: Magnusquerade Season Three Speedrun [1]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Allusions to past murder, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Brief suicidal thoughts, Do Not Archive, Gen, Go read the rest of the Magnusquerade first, Rewrite of Canon Scene, Season Three but a Speedrun instead of the canon timeline, Takes Place almost immediately after Promotion (sides A&B), Vampire AU, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 15:41:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20762801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turbulent_Muse/pseuds/Turbulent_Muse
Summary: I read the Magnusquerade and felt the need to contribute. Takes place early season three and directly after Promotion (Sides A&B) so go read those first. Accelerates the timeline of early season three significantly.Jon finds a place to live and formulates a plan of action.





	On Living Arrangements During Unplanned Sabbatical

“Alright, get inside, Jon.” Georgie said as she opened the front door. She walked inside and waited expectantly for him to follow. But he hesitated.

“Georgie…I shouldn’t be here. I’m…It’s dangerous for you if I’m here.”

“Then why exactly were you hanging out in an alley next to my house?”

“I-I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have. I just don’t have anywhere else to go.” Jon refused to look her in the eye.

“Which is why you’re staying here.”

“Georgie—”

“Get inside so I can shut the door before The Admiral gets out.” Her tone left no room for debate and Jon sheepishly stepped inside. “So, are you going to tell me what’s going on? You said you can’t go home, and you’re covered in blood.”

Jon’s mind flashed back to earlier in the night. The slow, then immediate realization of what had happened, what he’d become, what _Elias_ had done to him. It had to be Elias, Jon was loathe to believe Jurgen Leitner of all people but it did seem like the old man was telling the truth. Then there was the fear, the running, the lack of any plan but to get away from Elias and from what he himself had done oh god what had he done?

He could still taste blood at the back of his throat, he swallowed nervously. “You wouldn’t believe me.”

“Have you listened to my podcast? I’ll believe anything. But, on air.”

“I _will_ tell you Georgie, I…I just…”

Georgie sighs. “It’s alright, you’ve clearly been through something pretty bad, this can wait until you’re ready to talk.”

“Thanks. I…Thank you.”

“Sure. Anyway, I think I have some clean clothes that’ll fit you if you don’t mind wearing a What The Ghost t-shirt.”

“That will be fine. Thank you Georgie.”

“That’s what friends are for, Jon.”

……

John lay in Georgie’s guest bedroom, thankful that she already had thick curtains in front of the windows so he didn’t have to worry about bursting into flames or whatever would happen when the sun rose. He thought about Jurgen Leitner’s mangled corpse but tried to push the image out of his mind. Logically he knew he should probably blame Elias for the man’s death but that didn’t stop it from weighing on his conscience.

So instead he tried to think about what Leitner had told him. Clans of vampires, each with their own set of powers, serving evil entities and wreaking havoc on the world. Causing all the incidents that led to the statements he recorded. And all the incidents where no one survived to make a statement. One of them had killed Sasha. Killed and replaced her and for months he hadn’t even suspected. Sasha was dead. Sasha was dead and a monster killed her and now Jon was a monster too, no different from that thing. Hell, he even already had a body count.

Jon took a deep breath. He couldn’t afford to get lost in grief and self-pity now, he had to think about the future, had to make a plan. He couldn’t stay with Georgie forever.

Because eventually he was going to get hungry.

He couldn’t be here when that happened. He couldn’t be…anywhere when that happened. Oh god, what was he going to do? He couldn’t starve himself, he could feel a drive, a mania, a Beast, under his skin just waiting to drive him into a frenzy if he lost even a fraction of his self control. No, he wouldn’t let anyone else end up like Leitner, no matter what.

And that meant, what, periodically feeding on people? What if he _had_ to kill? Was he willing to do that to survive? Was he willing to do the alternative? It would probably be safer for everyone if he was gone, but could he actually bring himself to do it…

He needed more information. What Leitner had told him about the big picture was woefully inapplicable to his current personal crisis. As far as he could tell there was only one person he could go to to explain all of this. Elias. But could he even trust Elias to tell him the truth? No, he had to leave that as a last resort. He _wanted_ to leave that as a last resort. There _were_ other people out there he could go to, for a certain definition of people, the ones that showed up again and again in the statements, they had to know more about what was going on, both with him personally and with the whole world. He could track them down and finally get some real information. If they didn’t kill him first.

Well, that was just a risk he’d have to take, and he could worry about that once he’d actually found one of them. For now, he needed sleep. He’d certainly had a long night.

He slept through the day and woke up that evening to find that someone had pushed a statement through the mail slot. This just made getting more info even more important, because it raised a lot more questions.

……

It turned out that finding people was a lot more difficult without the Institute’s resources. After only a few hours of fruitless googleing Jon knew he’d need help. And, surprisingly, he had an idea of where to find it.

It had been difficult to convince Melanie to meet him at night, and it had been difficult to get Georgie to agree to pass on his message without being able to tell her why the meeting had to take place at night. But, eventually, he’d found a public place that was open after dark and up to Melanie’s standards and the meeting had been arranged. He couldn’t really blame her for being cautious, after all, he _had_ committed the murder he’d been accused of.

He supposed he was lucky it was still winter. It got dark early so there were still people around, making their meeting less conspicuous. Of course, there was also a downside to being around so many people, and Jon struggled to stay focused on the conversation and not his hunger. He needed his answers soon.

“Thank you for meeting me.”

“Well, why wouldn’t I? It’s not like you’re_ wanted for murder_.”

Jon shushed her hurriedly. “Can you keep it down?!”

“Sure,” Melanie hissed. “I’ll just quietly sit here and become an accessory, shall I?”

“You…I…” Jon was at a loss. Melanie was right. But he needed her help, so that meant he needed to obfuscate the truth, if not outright lie. “If you genuinely think I’m a killer, why meet me?”

“W-I mean, it’s not…it’s not like you’ve got any reason to kill me.”

Jon barely choked back an ironic laugh. If only she knew. He found himself staring at her throat and took a deep breath to center himself although he didn’t need the air and it didn’t calm his new predatory instincts any. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to focus on what she was saying.

“Fine. I don’t think you did it. But I still don’t want to get caught up in whatever _it_ is.”

“Should have thought of that before you joined the institute.”

This led to a short argument that served no purpose but to waste more time that Jon didn’t have. Finally they got back on topic.

“What do you want?”

“It’s…like I said, there’s a lot of messed up stuff at the Institute, and…I think the murders might be the least of it. I need someone on the inside to keep an eye on things, let me know what’s going on. I’d ask someone else, but…”

“Tim hates you, and Martin’s probably being watched.”

“And Elias is my chief suspect, so…”

“I’m…not sure about working against Elias. He is my boss after all.”

Jon was confused, this seemed out of character. “If I’m right he’s also a murderer.”

“Yeah, but…”

Jon didn’t know exactly why, but Melanie’s hesitancy made him very nervous. He didn’t _know_, but he had his suspicions. “He’s already got a hold on you, damn!”

“Hey, I’m just saying that crossing him would be bad.”

Jon decided to try something. “Look, do you know what Elias wants with me?”

“No…”

“Then maybe he wouldn’t be against you giving some information.”

“Sure, let’s just ask him if he’s cool being spied on.”

Jon sighed. Melanie looked at him for a long moment before speaking. “You know what? Fine. Fine! I’ll help you. But you tell me everything. Okay? _Everything_.”

“I mean…you won’t believe it.”

“I don’t care.”

This was a gamble. She probably wouldn’t react well to the truth whether she believed it or not. But he needed her help. And he needed her trust. So it was a gamble he’d have to take. “Alright. Alright.”

“Start with Sasha.”

“...Okay.”

He told her the truth. About everything. He saved the specifics of why he was on the run for last though. She reacted…predictably. He didn’t think he’d be hearing back from her.

Jon sat defeatedly back in his seat for a moment. He ran his hands over his face in exhaustion. Okay. He needed a new plan. And he needed to get away from this place, Melanie’s exit had attracted too much attention. He wandered around in the dark for several hours before heading back to Georgie’s place.

She was there to greet him when he walked through her door. “Melanie called.” She said.

Jon groaned. “What did she say?”

“She said she’ll do what you want.”

“What?!”

“Yeah, she said you held up you’re end of the bargain. But she also said to say she’s not doing it for you, and she doesn’t trust you, and she thinks you’re crazy, but if what you said is true then Elias has her in a situation she’d _really_ rather not be in.”

“Well that’s…that’s certainly a relief. Did she say anything else?”

“Yeah, she told me to kick you out. She said that you were either delusional or dangerous or both. Probably both.”

“Oh…”

“And I told her that I can make my own decisions, and that you’re staying.”

“Georgie…She’s right. I am dangerous.”

“Jon, I know you, you’re my friend and you have nowhere else to go. I’m not gonna throw you out on the streets, even if I have to lie to the police for you.”

“You _what_?!”

“Yeah, they came round that first day you were here. You were asleep.”

“Georgie, I am so—”

“There’s no need. But I would like to know what’s going on.”

“I…I think I need to find out more for myself before I can tell you.”

“Okay, but, Jon, be careful. You don’t look well.”

“I don’t_ feel_ particularly well either.” Jon muttered.

“And I don’t want you recording those weird statements here anymore. I think they’re making you worse, they’re definitely dragging you deeper into whatever this is.”

Jon sighed. “Okay. I’ll try to be out of here soon enough anyway.”

“Just get some sleep, Jon.”


End file.
